Intimidation Tactics

Updated July 16, 2001 12:20 a.m. ET

Many no doubt will hail the conviction and imminent deportation of U.S. academic Li Shaomin as the beginning of the end to an unpleasant chapter in China's relations with the outside world. Now that he will soon be free, and the four other ethnically Chinese detained foreign scholars will likely follow, the temptation will be to forget about the whole episode. But that is not only impossible; any attempt to do so would be unwise. The arrest of Mr. Li and his colleagues must be recognized as part of a larger plan to silence...